Monday, June 05, 2006

Thankee Jeebus - Operation: “GAAAAAH!!! FAAAAAAGS!!!" rolls on and we can ignore more trivial issues

Lilly's best friend is an adoptee from China. A beautiful little girl, bright and funny, a typical 7-year old into Disney princesses and soccer, her prospects are certainly better in the US than if she had been left in an orphanage in China. Some might say she is "blessed".

Then again, those who say she is "blessed" might reconsider. Lilly's friend has two moms, lesbians who have been commited in a relationship for over 15 years. Both moms are respected members of our community, one a Doctor and the other a successful Real Estate agent, both involved in PTA and instrumental in getting out local Farmer's Market going every Wednesday.

So what am I going to tell Lilly when her friend's moms can't get benefits that us straight folk take for granted (when we can get those benefits), how do I explain that one mom can't visit the other mom in the hospital? How do I make sense to Lilly other than people in this country are full of hate?

My 7-year old has no concept of hate; it makes no sense to her. To her young mind, no one should hate, kill, or harbour anger beyond the 5-minute problems of the schoolyard. Indeed, she's a bit jealous that her best friend has parents who are loving and commited while her own parents are divorced. The hate of Daddy Dobson et al makes no sense to her.

She knows gay partners had nothing to do with her parents ending a bad marriage. As such, my 7-year old daughter has much more wisdom than the twits feeding into fishist stupidity.

As I write this, I'm out another $50. Not for a concert ticket or a sack of weed or a family night out at Red Lobster, not for new shoes or dishes, not for CDs or books to enrich myself and my family nor a half-decent date with The Babe but merely to fill my gas tank. Fiftyfuckingdollars, folks. Last year at this time, I thought $30 a tank was too much and now I'm spending $150 - $200 more a month on driving to work, ferrying kids here and there and just going to the grocery store. Not driving to the mountains to camp (not when it runs $50 just to get there) or taking the kids anywhere fun - not on this budget.

Yet, I'm told that queer marriage is the biggest threat to my family, more than no healthcare, more than not being able to afford vacation and time in the woods, more than Osama Bin Laden still on the loose. More than the $200 a month that I'm paying for gas that I haven't been compensated for in wages.

Preznit Pissypants and his Gooper fellow-travellers know that families can't make ends meet and that Osama is still at large so all they have is to throw some hate at gays. Considering how well throwing hate at brown people went over, it's all they got. Hate is the gas in the tank of the GOP. Even though they know they can't make an amendment work, they'll raise the spectre of less-than-human to energize their base (the basest of their base). Pathetic, yes, but if you haven't been paying attention, the GOP has lowered the bar on all kinfs of shit.

For those of you reading me who take humbrage to being associated with Hate - accept it, get over youselves - you're a bigot. Christ wouldn't be howling about same-sex marriage, Christ would be standing on the side of the least of our brothers (and sisters), wondering why a society as enriched as ours can't provide for all of Go'd children. Read your bible, you nitwits, Christ had plenty to say about the downtrodden and the poor and NOTHING to say about queers.

It's an unfortunate irony that Lilly's friend had to come all this way to find out that our country is chock-full of stone-age thinkers no better than despots in China. My hope for her - and Lilly - is that a new generation evolves and learns that the stupidity of their elders does nothing to make this planet a better place to live.

Once again, you've voiced what is on my mind lately. And, thankfully, you've made me think. Been wallowing in self-pity lately and I really should be enjoying the fact that I'm a parent of a wonderful child. Thanks again, sir.

You, and Rodgers and Hammerstein, have hit the nail right on the head.===You've got to be taughtTo hate and fear,You've got to be taughtFrom year to year.It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear.You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taughtTo be afraidOf people whose eyes are oddly made,And people whose skinIs a different shade. . .You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taughtBefore it's too lateBefore you are 6 or 7 or 8 To hate all the people your relatives hateYou've got to be carefully taught